Negotiations over the date of the Iowa caucuses continue to dominate political talk in Iowa. Rick Perry takes his cowboy boots walking through western Iowa today.

Eyes turn toward Jan. 3

Iowa’s key players in setting the date of the caucuses, members of the state Central Committee, strongly want a January caucus date and have set their sights on Jan. 3, pending a formal vote, as Register staff writers Jennifer Jacobs and Jason Clayworth first reported Friday. Two Register stories today, with the main news and examining the maneuvering, explore what’s at stake.

The complicating factor, of course, is New Hampshire, which usually wields the final word as states try to maneuver ahead of Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state since 1972, and New Hampshire, far longer the first-in-the-nation primary state. Its secretary of state, William Gardner, said yesterday that any Tuesday in December might do for the Granite State.

If New Hampshire makes the leap into December for presidential voting, uncharted territory for any state, it’s unclear whether Iowa would leap, too. Iowa might decide to stick with conducting 2012 voting in 2012 and stake its argument on remaining the first-in-the-nation caucus state, regardless of when New Hampshire holds is primary.

Perry takes on immigration

Stung by backlash on the issue, Rick Perry came to Tiffin, Ia., last night with the message that he’s tough on immigration.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry/Associated Press file photo

“We have a war literally in places along that border, and we’ve got to have a president of the United States that will stand up and not just talk about it, but secure that border with boots on the ground,” Perry said.

Fellow candidates have hit him hard over signing a law that allows in-state tuition for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who have lived in Texas three years and graduated from high school.

Michele Bachmann will make a three-day bus tour of Iowa next week, mostly in western Iowa, but visiting Perry in central Iowa on Saturday.

Her title for that stop, jabbing rival Rick Perry: The “Bachmann Takes it to Perry Rally.”

Perry, home to a Tyson pork slaughterhouse, is also an Iowa meatpacking town whose population has been transformed by immigration. Bachmann has joined other candidates in pummeling Governor Perry on immigration views they consider too soft.

Quick takes

Santorum beefs up Iowa staff: In another sign of his heavy-on-Iowa strategy, he’s added sister and brother act Sheila Murphy and Kip Murphy to coordinate campaign activities in southwest Iowa. Sheila Murphy, Republican chairwoman of Harrison County, served as Brenna Findley’s campaign manager her 2010 bid for Iowa attorney general. Both she and her brother, who previously was a southwest Iowa field office director for the state party, worked for Rod Roberts’ 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

Bachmann fundraising questioned: Lois Romano of The Daily Beast asks this morning, “Can Bachmann Survive Until Iowa”? Her piece mostly outlines potential money troubles, which the campaign denies and won’t be known for sure until third-quarter fundraising figures are released later this month. The key quote: “She has likely seen her best days in this race,” said Steve Schmidt, the GOP political strategist who ran John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “There is not a scenario at this point whereby she can get nomination of the party. But she is among a group of candidates that can play impactful roles.”

In case you missed it:Richard A. Oppel Jr. of the New York Times examined yesterday whether Rick Perry’s long-held opposition to ethanol might yet hurt him in Iowa. The bottom line on that question remains unclear, but ethanol politics in Iowa isn’t as potent as it once was. As The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll found in June, only 14 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers thought opposition to ethanol subsidies was a “deal killer.” At this point, the ethanol usage mandate is considered more critical to the industry than subsidies.

Today’s schedule

Rick Perry has the state to himself, with three western Iowa meet and greets: